Maggie shook her head to clear the ringing from her ears, unaccustomed to being assaulted by noise. A thick cloud of stone dust in the air threatened to clog her throat and made seeing more than a few feet away a challenge.
"Are you fucking kidding me?" Yusuke grunted to her left, pushing himself up from the stone floor. "Once! That's all I'm asking for! Just once I want a straightforward punch-fest that doesn't end in us springing some kind of stupid trap!"
"Is this a - hngh - a normal thing for you?" Maggie asked, nursing an uncomfortable pain in her side. A little warm, a little wet, she could be sure she was bleeding from a few different places. Nothing life-threatening, but absolutely enough to piss her off.
"Just another Tuesday," Yusuke replied, hauling a somewhat stunned Kuwabara up.
"They blew a chunk out of the wall," Kuwabara muttered. What had felt like one explosion had evidently been two - one to throw them off their feet from behind, and a second buried in the stone wall of the Door, breaking it apart and rendering it seemingly useless. Kuwabara looked heartbroken.
"Up from ye're nap, Verdandi," Woden grumbled, helping Maggie to her feet. "Sleep well, eh?"
"I'm good," Aria called, appearing from the cloudy gloom, "no one worry about me, I've got it!"
Maggie hadn't needed to see Aria to know that. Even though her senses were dulled by the dusty air and the concussive force of the explosions, she could still perfectly identify Aria's location before any others. Some internal compass always locked onto Aria's location, subtly pulling them together. She'd felt it since their first meeting at Genkai's temple, and it only grew stronger since.
Maggie's head whipped around as a sudden thrill of panic ran through her. "Kurama?" she called. It was impossible to see well in the dusty air, and it dampened her senses. "Kurama?!"
Half a second before his hand touched her arm and she turned, the Song reported his presence beside her. "You're bleeding," he informed, concern sharpening his tone. He'd taken some shrapnel to the face, and blood dripped into one golden eye, making him blink repeatedly to clear it. Gold, his color of passion. Gold, his color of rage.
"I really don't like that they're still over there," Aria interrupted, squinting in the settling dust.
The sea of demons, thinned only slightly by their crossing to the Door, undulated in waves across the open floor of the cavern. Empty gazes and a variety of glowing eyes and menacing teeth did their best to threaten and intimidate. Like a horde of frightened cats, Maggie thought idly.
Kuwabara spread his hands on the fractured stone wall, like smoothing his hands over the glorified rubble might seal the cracks.
Maggie's chest sang for him, hurt in familiar ways. "Will the Door still work?"
"June's the only one who would know," he said. He traced shallow engraved marks on the wall, invisible until they had come up to the stone, until June had instructed them to open the Door, until it had exploded. Signs and symbols of an ancient time and forgotten lore.
"Not the only one," Aria corrected, nodding her head out into the crowd even though the exact faces couldn't be seen. "We saw them working it when we landed. They've got to know."
Them. Two sinister smiles, bland and dispassionate, that haunted her nightmares. Maggie snarled, her rage ready in answer. "Come out!" Maggie yelled at the sea of hesitant demons. "I know you're still here! You can't resist messing around with any other part of our lives, so why would you stop now?"
"If that worked, we'd've-" Yusuke started, but stopped abruptly as a golden demon stepped out of the crowd as if he'd been just waiting to be announced. "Well... fuck me sideways."
"My Lady." Yasuo bowed, and somehow the address and the gentlemanly behavior came tainted with sarcasm.
Maggie's snarl became a predatory grin. "I'm going to rip your tongue out."
"Easy," Aria cautioned. "They tricked us once, let's not give them another chance."
"Stay out of this," Maggie snapped. Aria did not add additional comment, but the air between them felt tinged with a disappointed sadness.
Mishka joined Yasuo with a sigh, shaking her head. "Oh, little raven, you've always had such a terrible temper, but it's time to let go now."
"You can't stop us; June's already there!" Kuwabara declared, with more courage than he probably felt.
Yasuo only laughed. "You've already lost. We don't need to stop all of you; just one will suffice. Without a Raven and Lion both she cannot cross back, and without the Star her soul will be lost."
Mishka smiled gently, in a motherly way. "When she fails, that will be the end; it will finally be over. No more Tkadlecs. No more pain. No more Ravens. No more Lions. No more Stars."
"She won't be lost!" Kuwabara declared boldly. "She has her Star, and we're gonna get that door open for her, and you can't stop us!"
Yasuo's casual smile fell and he blinked at Kuwabara, as if surprised by his words. Slowly, his grin returned, wider than before. "Yes," he drawled, "of course."
Aria set a hand on Maggie's arm, and Maggie thought that the lioness might be trying to hold her back. She was ready to shrug it off, to fight, but the touch was gentle. A quick look showed her lips moving, repeating something under her breath where even Maggie's senses couldn't hear. "Aria?" Maggie asked, concerned.
"Lion," Aria said, pointing briefly to herself. "Lion," she said again, slowly pointing to Yasuo, who bristled with anger.
The golden man's face turned furious. "Quiet!" he roared.
Undeterred, Aria continued. "Raven," she pointed to Mishka, "and Raven," and pointed to Maggie. She shook her finger in the air, like measuring a beat of music. "Three things you will need to Weave the World," Aria said, slowly sounding out each word. "It's not the shuttle," she said.
"It's not the shuttle!" Aria yelled, her eyes bright with recognition and realization like victory. "They let us think it was, but it wasn't!"
"Rozptýlit je a zastavím ji," Yasuo said to Mishka, stepping back.
"Nakonec to skončí," Mishka replied. She lifted her hands as Yasuo vanished, and the wave of demons rose with her command.
"Oh hell yeah!" Yusuke barked, his Mazoku energy rising to the challenge of the descending wave.
"Woden, with me; after Yasuo!" Kurama called. There wasn't time for hesitation, and as anxious as it made me to lose his presence I knew he was right, and battle decisions needed to be made swiftly.
"Be a pleasure," Woden replied. Kurama vaulted over the heads of the oncoming assailants where Woden simply plowed straight through, throwing lower demons left and right.
"Kuwabara!" Aria cried, blasting a demon in the face with a golden ray and melting its face away. "You don't need us, you can go after June with your dimensional sword!"
"You idiot; how could you forget about your sword?!" Yusuke berated.
Kuwabara cut down three demons with one great stroke of his golden-orange spirit sword. "Gimme a break, Urameshi - last time I used it the world was about to end!"
"News alert - the world is about to end!" Yusuke yelled.
But Kuwabara looked frightened - of making a mistake, or being misled? "How are you so sure that's going to work?" he asked Aria.
"Maggie - pay attention!" Aria snapped with a blast of light, severing an arm mid-air that had brought a knife a hairs width from slashing my throat.
"Sorry!" Maggie yelled, more irritated with herself for being so careless than Ariaa's harsh reprimand.
Distraction seemed to be the fault of the hour, and Maggie realized a moment too late that the assault had been a distraction for her friend. Mishka appeared from the milling crowd, slipping a pale hand to Aria's forehead. "No more sweet lies for you, wild heart."
Aria's eyes rolled back in her head and she slumped to the ground.
"Aria!" Kuwabara cried. Maggie felt something in the air, like the gentle fluttering of bird wings high above. Uncertain eyes cast in green-gold stellate light held more clarity than ever before.
Maggie could see - could feel - he was ready to abandon Aria's orders, and she snapped "Kuwabara, go!"
Maggie nodded, knowing without words exactly what Kuwabara was asking. Kuwabara turned away, slashing at the ruined stone wall. The blade didn't pierce stone, but seemed to push apart the smooth edges of space. Without any further hesitation Kuwabara plunged into the abyss. The world closed seamlessly behind him, leaving no evidence of the manipulation of the fabric of the universe.
He was still there, not there, but at the distant edges of her furthest senses he was still present. Maggie could feel his pulse in the air, feel a touch of confusion and fear and anger. If she closed her eyes she could almost see him, almost see June as well.
Much closer, though, another constant presence felt firmly misaligned. Maggie opened her eyes as Aria stood, wobbling slightly on her feet.
Agony, soul-wrenching pain, poured from her in waves. Tears poured down her cheeks as grief flowed from the breached dam in her heart. "Why… why…" she moaned, voice cracking. "Give him back!"
But Maggie could feel her, feel the pain in her heart, almost see the visions dancing in front of her face. "It's only an illusion - come on, you've broken out of those before!"
Aria rushed at her, clawing at Maggie's face with desperation. "I didn't mean it, give him back to me!"
The lower demons grabbed at Maggie's arms and she blasted sound backwards, shredding them to pieces. Newly freed, Maggie seized Aria's hands even as their golden light burnt and she grimaced in pain. "Hey," she insisted, "you are not what they made you."
Aria blinked at that, brief recognition flickering in her eyes, but it faded as hands brushed gently at Maggie's shoulders, the softest touch skimming down her arms and a voice whispering in her ear.
"It will be so beautiful to watch Lion and Raven tear each other apart." A flash of white teeth and a satisfied grin skimmed at the edges of her vision as Mishka seized Maggie's arm in a bone-crushing grip.
I got distracted, and now it's all over again, Maggie thought ruefully. She had expected to feel the same overwhelming rush of confusion and loss of self that she had felt the last time Mishka had used her powers.
But, in the brief seconds that followed, nothing came. No waves of confusion, no sense of overwhelming fear or pain. Not even a tingle at the edges of her senses. Maggie looked down at Mishka's grip on her arm, the fingers splayed over pale scars in the middle of the soft flesh of her forearm.
Three runes, carved deeply into her flesh when need arose, healed into a faint reminder of love and trust. Maggie chuckled, smiling ruefully. It shuddered through her, growing into a powerful roar. It grew within and without, building up to press against the underside of her skin with a regretful joy.
A screech of pain - furious, agonizing pain - echoed down the long passageway leading out of the cavern.
Mishka tried to pull back her hand, fear evident in her eyes, but Maggie caught it. Aria crumpled quietly as Mishka released her control there, no doubt in a last-ditch effort to focus her powers on Maggie. But that would be useless now.
Three things you need to weave the world.
"I am the Raven whose cry summons the World," she declared. From the suffering of so many she was safe at last.
I'm going to give you a gift - my gift.
The Song pulsed through her and demanded to be heard. "I am the Master of the World's Song."
Her skin turned a mottled gray as Song pressed up underneath the flesh. The words from her mouth slipped easily around lengthening, sharpening teeth; neat rows of white daggers ready to cut, rend, and tear.
By clan right I name thee, and bring ye into a clan that should have been.
"I am Verdandi of the Clan of Exiles." It poured out of her - joy, rage, fear, Song - from her mouth in plumes of black smoke, filling her eyes to inky completion, hissing from her pores like ashen feathers bristling along her skin. "I am protected by the Clan ward of the sacrifice, the change, and the shield."
"You made Woden kill my friend." Long talons from her fingers made gripping Mishka's face in one hand a simple task. Frightened purple eyes were useless on Magnolia, who spoke with satisfied fury. "You owe me a soul."
Her blood on Maggie's hands and the sound of Mishka screaming in her ears as she tore her head from her shoulders with nothing more than the strength in her body, She'd never felt such power before.
No, not power; freedom. Free, finally, from her fears. Free, finally, from Mishka's curse. Free, finally, to command her own future.
MIshka's body fell to the stone floor, and the open mouth on the head hanging from Maggie's long talons gaped, a brain firing randomly in death throes.
"Dear one," a smooth voice called to her. Maggie rolled her head smoothly, like clearing a crick from her neck, to spot a familiar form standing in such a similar fashion it was almost laughable.
"Beloved," the Song spoke with me, her voice joined with my voice, "did you bring me a gift?"
Kurama lifted his arm, a decapitated head swinging from long lengths of gold hair. "For you, dear one."
"A pair, then," Maggie replied, lifting Mishka's head. "Woden?" she asked, noticing his absence.
"All is well," Kurama reassured.
"You're both really creepy, you know that?" Yusuke interrupted, stretching his shoulder. The demons seemed to have all pulled back from the fight - likely when Mishka's head separated from her shoulders - leaving an eerie silence in the cavern. "So," Yusuke drawled, "what the hell are we supposed to do with them now?"
"I doubt they even know how they arrived," Kurama surmised, tossing Yasuo's head to one side and cleaning his bloody hands with a handkerchief.
Maggie shuddered as the Song retreated slightly, pulling back from the edge of the cliff inside of her. She could feel her teeth shrinking, long talons retracting, the beast of her fury becoming just Maggie once more. "We can send them back, I'm sure," she said, accepting the offer of a handkerchief from Kurama to wipe blood from her hands as well.
Mishka's head rolled to join Yasuo's - two open expressions of pain, two examples of revenge finally found.
Once slightly less bloody, Maggie crouched to check on Aria. Her eyes were opening, flitting around in confusion as she rolled onto her side.
"Aria," Maggie coaxed, "hey, pay attention - look at me."
"I know you," Aria said, sitting up more.
"That's right," Maggie agreed, "do you remember what happened?"
"Which part's the dream?" Aria asked. "The one where I… I killed Hiei, or the one where I loved him?" She stared at her hands, and her lip trembled.
"No, no!" Maggie seized her hands. "You left your ring with Hiei, remember?" She shook Aria's hands until she turned her tearful face upwards. "You're such a fucking drama queen that you left your ring with him in case something happened."
Aria shook with relief, her shoulders slumping and head falling to hide her sudden tears. Maggie rubbed her back briefly, feeling awkward.
"What's so damn important, anyway?" Yusuke asked, fists on his hips. "I know we can't leave her there, but she's got the shuttle so she can do whatever, right?"
"No," Aria shook her head, rubbing her hands against her face to clear the lingering fearful tears. "She needed the most important part, the Star. We thought that was the shuttle, but it isn't." She looked to the stone wall, her eyes shining with confidence. "The Star isn't the shuttle, it's Kuwabara."
A/N: I dropped about five kilograms of foreshadowing in this story, but did you see it coming?
And awwww… Maggie and Kurama gave each other the heads of their decapitated enemies. So sweet. I wanted to give Maggie a very satisfying end of her arc, and giving a reason for the ward in her arm, giving Nyema's sacrifice a lasting effect that in the end frees Maggie from her fears of becoming uncontrollable again - it felt too good to pass up.
I love my reviewer, SterlingBee!
PLEASE REVIEW!
Next: Event Horizon